Picking Up The Pieces, and Breaking Them Down
by Vivi FF
Summary: JP is going through a harsh time as he enters the third SSX season. But will a new character help him get back on his feet? And what havoc will this new character cause to the other SSX favorites? Please read and review! Rated for language.
1. The End, Yet a New Beginning

Disclaimer: I do not own SSX and all of the different characters, tracks, etc. However, I do own Tony, my own original character that I wanted to throw in the mix of cool characters.  
  
This is my first fan fic ever. However, I have written stories before so this is not a completely new experience for me. And Tony is not me. But, I do put in qualities that I have in him (particularly his attitude to many of the different riders). I know that JP, Kaori, etc. speak different languages better than English, but I'm just going to make them speak English cause it is much easier on both the writer (me) and the reader (you).  
  
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Chapter 1: The End, Yet a New Beginning  
  
JP sighed sadly as he reread the letter he just got in the mail. Having already packed most of his belongings for a season's stay at the third SSX season, the intense snowboarding competition that he was part of and became famous from, this letter couldn't have destroyed JP's spirits any more. It read:  
  
"Dear Jean-Paul Arsenault,  
We regret to inform you that one of your good colleagues, Luther- Dwayne Grady, had recently passed away, due to severe medical conditions involving his obesity. Before he had died, he wanted us to tell you that you've always been a good friend to him, despite the fact that many people had hated him. His funeral will be held within a week, but we do not wish to disturb anything you have planned by attending, specifically the upcoming new season of SSX. We hope you do not take Luther's death to an extreme level, and best of luck at the competition.  
With respect,  
Mr. and Mrs. L.D. Grady (Luther's parents)."  
  
Luther has been one of JP's few friends at the SSX competition. However, JP never got close to Luther, thinking their friendship was more like an acquaintanceship.  
  
JP crumpled the letter and tossed it in the wastebasket muttering, "He never really did much for me, but it is sad that he is no longer around."  
  
Heading out to finish his packing, a horrible thought struck JP. "Who will help me in the competition now?" he thought as he remembered all of the times Luther had stuck up for him and helped him out when the other competitors were furious at him. Worry had spread over him like it was the largest wave in the world.  
  
"I think it is best for me to take care on my own problems on my own," announced JP to no one in his empty mansion, "But it has been two years. Maybe no one still holds a grudge against me, after all these years."  
  
JP walked to his bathroom to check himself in the mirror. He waved his hand through his spiky blonde hair to make sure his hair gel was working strongly. Ever since he got a new haircut, he's been spiking his hair up with various hair gels because many of them weren't as strong as necessary to keep his hair spiky. However, he believed he found the one that works the best, but he's been sort of paranoid about it. Satisfied that his hair is spiked the way he wanted, he took his shades and laid them gently before his spike bangs, giving him the look he wanted. He was also wearing expensive black snowboard pants with red and blue stripes down the sides, a red and blue T-shirt, and a very expensive but sharp pair of black and red shoes, only made in France.  
  
"Maybe I can get a girlfriend this year," JP thought out loud. He has been worrying about girlfriends ever since Marisol. Before her, JP would date girls aimlessly and break up with them once he got bored of them, without any care for the girls' feelings. But after breaking up with Marisol and racing against her during the last SSX season, he learned that his breaking up with her, and probably with the many other girls, left her in a complete, heartbroken mess. When he saw Marisol's distress, he vowed never to break up with a girl again, to never put one in the pain he had done so before.  
  
Things were starting to look up for the young, talented French boarder. Or so, he hoped so. As JP finished packing and started to bring his entire luggage outside, he took one last step into his garage to view his beautiful red Ferrari F50. Wanting to take her for a final drive, he had to strain himself by closing the garage door in front of him. He knew that there wasn't enough time to spend cruising around before his plane left. And he couldn't take his Ferrari to the airport because he couldn't trust leaving his beauty at the airport parking lot for less than half a year.  
  
Frowning, he locked the garage door, and then proceeded to lock the front door to his mansion. He had taken extra precautions to make sure everything was shut and locked to prevent any theft, amongst other hazards. While he was away, he didn't want anything to happen to the mansion that he had invested so much of his time and money into.  
  
JP took out his silver and blue cell phone and dialed the number of a super fast taxi company in France.  
  
"Hello?" the voice on the other end asked.  
  
"Hello. I need a taxi that can take me and a ton of luggage over to the Paris International Airport," JP explained as he told the voice his address.  
  
"Alright. A taxi should be over there to pick you up in a few seconds," the voice explained before he hung up.  
  
JP gathered his entire luggage and dragged them on over to the sidewalk in front of his house. As soon as he got there, completely tired from the weight of the luggage, a taxi had just pulled up.  
  
"With a mansion like that, you would think one would be able to provide his own means of transportation," the taxi driver joked.  
  
"Quiet! I'm not paying you to comment about how I do not wish to drive my fancy car or fly my personal jet," snapped JP as he continued to load his luggage into and on top of the taxi. In a few moments, all of JP's luggage was secure and he sat down in the backseat of the taxi. As he slammed the door shut, he wondered, "What am I getting myself into?" as the taxi started to drive towards the airport and JP's mansion slowly faded from his site.  
  
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JP was glad when the taxi finally pulled up in front of the Paris International Airport entrance. Riding in silence really made him miss the speed and freedom of his Ferrari. He unloaded all of his luggage in silence, and was glad that the taxi driver didn't bother to throw out any more jokes about him. As the taxi drove away, JP started to dread the taxi ride back from the airport, despite the fact that that ride wouldn't take place for a long time.  
  
JP dragged his luggage into the airport, and after a while of looking, he found an empty seat and chose to sit down and rest. He fumbled for his wallet, found it, and rummaged through it to find his airplane ticket. He found it and read, "Flight 117: from Paris to Canada." He didn't know where in Canada he was going. When he applied, the SSX staff bought him the ticket, and told him that there will be a limo to pick him up from the airport in Canada that would drive him to the base of Mt. BIG, the name of the single mountain season three of SSX would take place on.  
  
Before he could walk over and ask when his flight would be available to board, JP heard an announcement, "Flight 177 is now boarding. Customers, please come with your tickets and luggage ready."  
  
"Finally!!" a huge crowd of people from various parts of the airport exclaimed in unison. JP laughed to himself, but couldn't help thinking whether he was late or not.  
  
JP grabbed his luggage and dragged them as he half-walked, half-ran to the terminal where his flight would take place. Somehow, he was the first one there.  
  
"There isn't a single large luggage compartment on the plane because of its small size," the announcer lady started to explain, "so you will have to place your luggage in the overhead storage compartments. Don't worry about your luggage not fitting. These compartments are gigantic and everything will fit."  
  
"Ticket please?" the ticket lady asked as she smiled at JP. JP gave a small smile back and handed her his ticket. She gave him back his stub and allowed him to board the plane, dragging his heavy luggage behind him.  
  
As JP entered the plane, he noticed that it was super clean, spacious, and cold because of the air conditioning, just what he liked in a plane. Looking around, he noticed that there were two seats next to each other in a row, but the distance between the seats in front to the next seats was huge. JP smiled at the thought of a lot of legroom. He chose a seat near the back and started to wonder how all of his luggage is going to fit. After he opened the overhead luggage compartment, JP was in complete shock at how much room was available. One by one, he tossed in his heavy suitcases, backpacks, and duffel bags. He was surprised at the amount of room left over for the second person, if there was going to be one. At times, JP was lucky enough to have two whole seats to himself due to the lack of many customers. He quickly searched through one of his backpacks, pulled out an extra thick car magazine, and closed the compartment door.  
  
JP picked the window seat, and sat down, amazed at how comfortable the airplane seats are. He could have fallen asleep right there in his cozy seat. But he chose not to, and instead, started to read through his car magazine. He heard the other customers begin boarding and throwing their luggage into the compartments. JP was satisfied that he had already accomplished this and was now enjoying himself in the convenient airplane.  
  
As he was reading an article about why Ferraris are the most beautiful and fastest cars ever made, he noticed that a few people were talking a lot near the front of the airship. Many of the other customers had packed away their luggage and settled down in silence. JP was particularly aware of these people talking because those voices were the loudest, and only, sounds on the plane.  
  
JP looked up from his magazine and saw that a young boy with a ton of luggage at the entrance of the plane was talking loudly to people outside of the plane in a mixture of English and Italian. The boy didn't seem very old, easily around his 'teens. He was wearing a blue T-shirt with black sleeves and black snowboard pants with blue stripes along the sides. But the peculiar thing about this boy that JP noticed was his hair. The boy had dark black hair, in which he had spiked. In between some of his spikes rested a pair of black and blue shades. He had nearly the identical hairstyle as JP! JP looked more closely and noticed that the tips of his hair were all dyed blue.  
  
"I wonder what his favorite color could be," JP muttered as the boy started finishing his good-byes, waved, and dragged his luggage looking for an available seat.  
  
Once JP got to the good part of his article, he had noticed someone opening the overhead compartment over his seat. JP looked up and saw the blue spiky-haired boy throwing his luggage effortlessly into the compartment. JP was disappointed that someone had to sit next to him, and out of all people it was the blue-haired kid that had copied off his hairstyle. JP also wondered if everything would manage to fit. Once the boy had thrown everything up there, he had an expression on his face that looked like he was missing something. He then stood on the chair next to JP as he started rummaging through all of the luggage in the compartment, making a huge cacophony then was heard throughout the entire airplane, and maybe even the airport right next door. JP was getting really annoyed, but his anger faded away as he saw the boy slam the compartment door shut and fell down into the seat next to JP with a snowboarding magazine and his CD player in his hands and his headphones around his neck. Before long, the boy had gotten himself comfortable, listening to his CD player with his headphones on and reading his magazine while he propped up his feet on the seat in front of him.  
  
By the time that the boy had finally settled in, the pilot had decided to start to fly the plane. JP snapped on his seatbelt, and was about to tell the boy to do the same until he noticed he already had it on.  
  
"I'm glad someone got himself comfortable and ready as soon as he could," JP muttered. He heard someone snickering, probably at his comment, from the seat in front of him. JP ignored him and once again directed his focus to his magazine as the plane flew higher and higher.  
  
After awhile, JP grew bored with his magazine so he decided to look out of his window. However, the site wasn't as amazing as he thought it would be because they were flying over the ocean. The endless blue started to make JP sleepy. He was almost about to fall asleep when he heard the boy next to him start to snore loudly, which had completely awaken JP and destroyed any ounce of sleep in his body.  
  
Frustrated, JP rolled up his magazine and smacked the boy in the face with it.  
  
"Ow!" the boy yelled. "Huh? What's going on?" Then he noticed the rolled up magazine in JP's hand. "So, you thought it was a good idea to smack someone you don't even know in the face, yeah?" he said angrily as he took off his headphones.  
  
"Hey, it's not my fault you were snoring," JP shot back. Now, the idea of smacking him to shut him up didn't seem like such a good one anymore.  
  
"You could have waken me up in a less violent way," the boy said. "Hey, what's with the shades?" he asked, noticing JP's shades on as the same way as his.  
  
"Hey, you were the one that copied off of me," JP said. But before he could say anything else, the boy snatched the sunglasses from JP's head.  
  
"Hey," JP started.  
  
"You got pretty cool shades there," the boy said. "They're kind of like mine." The boy took his shades off to examine the both of the pairs together. "Yeah, same company."  
  
"Can I have them back now?" JP asked with an annoyed tone in his voice.  
  
"Sure," the boy said as he handed them back. "Yours are nicer, but I like my better. They're not all black and silver."  
  
JP nodded as he placed them back on his head.  
  
"Hey, you're like my clone," the boy said. "Same hairstyles, same shades, what next?"  
  
JP just shook his head, and returned his gaze out the window.  
  
"So, what bring you to Canada?" the boy asked, clearly trying to make small talk. "Oh, by the way, my name is Tony," he said as he offered his hand for a handshake.  
  
"JP," JP said as he shook Tony's hand. "I'm going to go snowboarding on some mountains at Canada."  
  
"Me too," Tony said. "If you couldn't tell, I'm a big snowboarding fan. It's fun to finally board with some of the professionals. I hated that they stuck me in the amateur league just because I was so young. Now I'm 17 so they had to let me go."  
  
"Are you really that good?" JP asked with rising interest.  
  
"Hopefully," Tony said quietly. Then he yawned and said, "Well, I'm going back to sleep 'cause I really need it. Try not to wake me up."  
  
JP nodded and before long, Tony fell fast asleep. "He won't last one day if he keeps sleeping like this," JP muttered to himself. And before long, he fell asleep as well as the plane took the both of them closer and closer to Canada. 


	2. Reunion

Author's Note: Hey, what's up with the lack of reviews? I want to know what you guys think of my fic. Oh yeah, I'm not going to constantly put up a disclaimer every chapter. The single one on the first chapter should suffice.  
  
Chapter 2: Reunion  
  
JP didn't know what woke him up. Either the loud announcement from the flight attendant telling everyone to prepare for landing or the steadily decreasing altitude from the flight, either way, JP woke up slightly rested and sore. Taking the last few moments of the flight, JP fully woke himself and stretched within his seat.  
  
"Hey, it's time to go," JP said as he shoved Tony awake in the seat next to him.  
  
Tony yawned and stretched, "this flight wasn't so long, was it?"  
  
"Not if you snored through it all," JP laughed.  
  
"Shut up," Tony snapped back.  
  
The airplane finally landed, and the other customers started to rush to take up all of their luggage to leave the airplane as soon as possible. JP stood up to start, but Tony pushed him down.  
  
"Leave this to me," he said as he opened the compartment door, and then he knocked out everything that was inside, landing all over the floor. The two quickly scrambled to pick up their luggage. Sure enough, they got everything and were the first to leave the plane.  
  
"That was pretty fast," JP exclaimed.  
  
"Everyone else is too stupid to realize that," Tony said seeing that no one else has left the plane after them.  
  
The two walked into the airport with their heavy luggage. As soon as they stretched and got some snacks to eat, the two headed outside.  
  
"Well, I have to go now," Tony said pointing towards the parking lot. "Good luck with your snowboarding!"  
  
"Yeah, you too!" JP said as he started to wave good-bye to Tony.  
  
"Hey, we should snowboard together one time!" Tony called over his shoulder. But before JP could respond, he had disappeared off into the parking lot.  
  
"What are the odds of me ever seeing him again?" JP muttered to himself. "Much less go snowboarding with him."  
  
Feeling both sad and glad of getting rid of him, JP found the limo waiting for him and started to load all of his luggage into the car.  
  
"Do you need a hand?" the limo driver asked.  
  
"No thanks," JP responded automatically.  
  
"So, you're going to be boarding for SSX, right?" the limo asked, obviously making small talk. "You must be really good. I've always wanted to try it out, but I don't know what to do. Any advice?"  
  
"Grab a snowboard, get on a mountain, and just go," JP said. He turned to look at the driver in the eye. "You'll be surprised at how much that works."  
  
"Thanks," the drive said with a smile.  
  
JP finished loading his luggage and he stepped into the limo. He found it much more comfortable than the taxi, and surprisingly more spacious than the airplane. The driver closed the door behind him, and then headed over to the driver's seat. Before long, the two were headed towards JP's next test, the third SSX season.  
  
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"Whoa!" JP exclaimed as the limo arrived at the bottom on the mountain. The mountain was enormous! JP had to strain his head back so far to get a chance to see the top, and he couldn't even see that!  
  
"Pretty impressive, huh?" the driver asked as he started to unload JP's luggage.  
  
"Yeah, it is," JP said, still in awe.  
  
"Well, you better be off," the limo explained as he practically had to push JP out of the vehicle. "Good luck!"  
  
JP shook his head back into reality as the limo drove away. He picked up his luggage and started to walk aimlessly, looking for someone to give him directions to where he's supposed to be going. His shoes make loud crunches in the snow as he walked. JP noticed a few footprints and luggage prints in the snow, and he decided to follow them.  
  
"Hey JP!" he heard someone call. He turned his head to see a tall woman with blonde hair waving at him with a ton of luggage surrounding her. JP waved back and headed on over to her.  
  
"Long time no see!" she exclaimed. As he got closer, he recognized the woman as Elise, the "Amazon bombshell" of the SSX circuit. She was also a veteran at this. Elise was a tall, strong blonde who definitely had the great looks of a model. She wasn't one of those dumb blondes. At first sight, you would think she was a nice, carefree, energetic individual who was easy-going, easy to impress, and easy to get in bed with. But she is far from that. She possessed dire determination and fierceness on the slopes, and brought sarcasm to just about every point. She had graduated as the top female from her college, and surprisingly, never had a serious boyfriend. She and JP had never gotten along very well, but the two weren't pure enemies either.  
  
"Hey Elise," JP said. "Still looking great as always!"  
  
"Thanks!" Elise exclaimed. "You don't look bad yourself! I love your new haircut!"  
  
JP felt his face go red, but he shook it off. "I'm glad you grew out your hair," he said.  
  
"I didn't like it all that short. It was great not getting hair in my face every so often, but I personally didn't like it," she explained.  
  
JP just nodded.  
  
"Are we supposed to go over to that lodge over there?" Elise pointed to a brown building over in the distance. JP had not noticed it earlier.  
  
"I have no idea," he explained. "But odds are that we're supposed to go there."  
  
"Great!" she said as the two of them started to walk on over to the lodge, snow crunching under their feet as they dragged their entire luggage.  
  
"So, what do you think of the mountain?" JP asked, trying to start up a conversation as they walked. 'Maybe, I could get her to go on a date with me,' a voice in the back of JP's mind thought.  
  
"It's HUGE!" Elise exclaimed. "I haven't seen much of it yet, but I know it's going to be a crazily hard time to win anything on there!"  
  
"Yeah," JP said.  
  
"I hope the introductory session is short so we could all test out some of the tracks up there," Elise thought out loud.  
  
"Yeah, that would be awesome," JP responded. Everyone always hated the introductory sessions because they were boring and took way too long. There were way too many rules for the SSX circuit, and the majority of them are simply common sense ones that didn't need to be explained.  
  
"Ah, here we are!" Elise shouted as they finally arrived to the lodge. The plain brown wooden lodge seemed enormous, being able to hold many people in it at once. It also gave the impression that it was cozy.  
  
JP opened the door for Elise and said, "Ladies first."  
  
Elise just smiled softly and then walked in, dragging a whole bunch of luggage with her. JP followed her in and heard a man say, "Just leave your luggage over there along that wall with the rest of them. You can pick it up after the introductory session."  
  
Elise turned the corner, with JP trailing, and dropped everything off alongside the wall. JP did so as well. He noticed that thousands of other suitcases, backpacks, and duffel bags were already resting on the wall beside his.  
  
"Please step this way," the man said as he pointed to a door in which JP heard many voices exploding from.  
  
JP hesitated at first. He wasn't too sure he was ready to see everyone there.  
  
"Come on!" Elise encouraged, "Don't be shy!"  
  
"You're right," JP said as the two of them walked through the door.  
  
At first, the loud noise of the many people in the room overwhelmed the two. As JP started to look around and recognize any of the faces, Elise screamed in pain and anger.  
  
"Ouch!" she yelled. She looked down to see a busted paper airplane lying on the floor. Shaking with anger, she looked up and saw Psymon, a crazy boarder, laughing hysterically. "You wasted no time didn't you!?!?" Elise started to scream as she started to advance on Psymon. Psymon caught on and started to flee, with Elise tagging behind along with a few other boarders trying to restrain Elise.  
  
"He's not worth it!" Eddie, Elise's friend said.  
  
"You don't want to start off with a negative start," Brodi, the peaceful Buddhist boarder said, hoping to persuade Elise.  
  
"It doesn't matter!" Elise cried. "No one gets anyway with something like that!"  
  
JP just shook his head in disbelief. He had no idea how two people could be fighting already. He continued to look around. He saw that there was one long table in the center, with roughly about twenty chairs surrounding it. Sitting in those chairs were the many boarders on the SSX circuit. He recognized Zoe, the punk boarder, and Moby, the athletic, British boarder, talking amongst themselves. The two were his worst enemies last season. He also noticed Mac, the hip-hop DJ, and Kaori, the cute little Japanese girl, obviously flirting. Next to them, he saw a little kid talking to a huge muscular guy. These guys obviously seemed to be new boarders on the circuit. Talking with them, JP noticed someone familiar.  
  
"Hey JP!!" Tony, the blue-tipped-haired boy from the airplane yelled as the two saw each other. He was as surprised to see JP there as much as JP was to see Tony there.  
  
"I didn't know you got on the SSX circuit," JP said.  
  
"I didn't know you were on it either," Tony said back.  
  
"Someone you know?" Zoe asked quietly  
  
"Yeah," JP replied.  
  
Zoe stood up from her chair and walked on over to the door. "Nice hair, babe," she said as she passed by JP. JP almost blushed some more, but he knew that he couldn't embarrass himself in front of everyone. Looking at the glass like a mirror, Zoe fixed her red and black hair.  
  
"I'm going to check on the Elise-Psymon situation," she announced before she left.  
  
JP decided to sit down next to Tony, even though he was no longer in a talking mood. He put his head down on the table, about to take a short nap, but he was rudely interrupted as someone slammed opened the door.  
  
"Oh my! That was a long walk!!" Seeiah, the funky female boarder shouted as she walked in through the door.  
  
"I'm already sore, and the circuit didn't even start," Marisol said as she followed behind. Marisol was Seeiah's best friend. She is also Venezuelan and speaks perfect Spanish.  
  
JP's heart almost stopped as he caught sight of Marisol, the girl who had changed JP's feelings. Marisol noticed his look and smiled softly at him but turned away, finding interest in talking to Moby.  
  
"Seeiah! What happened to your hair? You grew it out?" Mac asked loudly. Everyone's eyes shifted over to Seeiah's head. Sure enough, she had grown out her hair way past shoulder length. In the last season, she had shaved her head bald as a sort of fashion statement.  
  
"You look so pretty!" Kaori said as she ran on over to Seeiah to talk to her. Marisol joined too as they started to talk about "girl stuff".  
  
The door opened again, and a young blonde girl with braids walked in. JP couldn't recognize her, so he assumed she was a new boarder. Obviously intimidated by the many people in the room and the fact that everyone knew every else, she chose to sat by herself in an empty seat closest to Mac. Mac gave a small wave, but she ignored him. Just then, a blonde stalker- looking guy came just about out of nowhere to talk to her, but she just waved him off.  
  
JP hadn't noticed this guy sitting wherever he was before, but he knew that he would be trouble. JP also felt sad for this new girl and wanted to go over to talk to her, but he chose not to. His train of thought was again interrupted. This time, it was by the sounds of many loud footsteps. He looked up and saw all of the people who left to see Elise chase Psymon coming back. Everyone turned their heads toward Zoe for an explanation.  
  
"Elise gave up," she said. "Psymon went beyond and started throwing snowballs at everyone so she gave up and will get back at him later."  
  
Sure enough, Elise, Eddie, and Brodi returned with a few remains of snowballs on their faces and clothes.  
  
"Oh, look who bothered to show up," Elise shot out at the sight of Marisol, her severe enemy.  
  
Marisol just gave Elise a dirty look and ignored her.  
  
"At least you're no longer wearing slutty clothes," Elise commented.  
  
"I see you're still your bitchy self," Marisol snapped back. But Elise was sort of right. Marisol had changed her look, throwing away her super tight clothes for some more snowboarding ones. She was wearing a nicely fit tank top, and sort of baggy long snowboard pants.  
  
"Better a bitch than a slut like you who is..." Elise started.  
  
"Just leave her alone!!!" the new girl had snapped at Elise, glaring with an angry look. Everyone turned their heads to her in silence and awe.  
  
"Excuse me, I wasn't talking to you. But if you just so happen to respond to 'slut'," Elise started.  
  
"I'm not taking this from you!!!" the new girl yelled as she stood up to attempt to punch the Canadian model in her face. Seeing that a fight will break out, Mac quickly jumped up to restrain this new girl, while Eddie and Brodi did their best to restrain Elise. JP noticed Mac was losing his grip, and stood up to help him but Tony got there before him. As soon as the two calmed down, everyone started walking back to their seats. As JP sat down, he noticed Tony whispering something in the new girl's ear, and she just smiled. 'Wonder what that is all about?' JP thought.  
  
"Don't tell me I missed a cat fight!" Psymon yelled as he walked into the room, interrupting JP's thoughts. JP just about had it with all these interruptions.  
  
"People take your seats," someone called from the door. JP looked and saw the guy who had directed Elise and him to this room walking in. The guy walked up to the front of the room, completely oblivious to what has just happened in this very room not too long ago. Everyone reluctantly sat in their seats, minds still blazing at the shift of the tension in the room.  
  
"Are we all here?" the guy asked as he started counting heads.  
  
Eddie looked around, his huge afro moving crazily with him. "I think we're missing some people."  
  
"We're only missing Luther," Zoe noticed.  
  
"Yeah, we are missing some people," Eddie joked about Luther's big weight problem. Some people laughed.  
  
"He isn't going to be here," JP said. Everyone looked at him silently.  
  
"Why? Did someone rob you completely of your fortunes? And you had to kill him for food?" Eddie attempted at a joke. Few people laughed.  
  
"How is that funny?" Tony asked.  
  
"Seriously," Kaori said.  
  
"He uhh... dropped out," JP said, not wanting to tell them the truth.  
  
"Oh, I am so sorry," Elise said sarcastically.  
  
"More food for us!!" Zoe yelled. Everyone laughed. "Unless Nate over there eats like crazy," she said as she pointed to the new, muscular boarder.  
  
"You better not!" Psymon threatened.  
  
"Anyways, since we are all here, let's begin. My name is DJ Atomika," the guy stated. "I am your new manager."  
  
Two hands shot in the air. "Yes?" DJ Atomika asked.  
  
"What happened to Rahzel?" Seeiah asked. Rahzel was the circuit's manager the other two seasons. The boarders loved playing jokes on him, and he was always very forgiving.  
  
"I'm not sure," DJ Atomika answered with concern. "From what I've heard, he quit because he couldn't take another season." He looked at Psymon. "And your question?"  
  
"What can we call you? 'DJ Atomika' is..." Psymon counted on his fingers, "six syllables!"  
  
"Well, I personally don't care what you call me," DJ Atomika said, "as long as it is within reason."  
  
The boarders now took this as a break, and started conversing with one another about which name to call him.  
  
"How about atom?"  
  
"Adam? That's stupid!"  
  
"I didn't say that..."  
  
"Mika!"  
  
"That's a girl's name!"  
  
"Like he's not a girl?"  
  
"That's mean!!!"  
  
"He's right there! Shut up!"  
  
"Don't you mean she's right there?"  
  
"Not really..."  
  
"Billy!" Psymon shouted over everyone. Everyone simply started at him. "What?" Psymon asked like there was noting strange with his response. "He looks like a 'Billy.'"  
  
"How about we call him 'DJ'?" Marisol asked kindly.  
  
"No! Now everyone would get him and me mixed up!" Mac yelled.  
  
"Like you're good enough to deserve to be called 'DJ"!" Moby said.  
  
Everyone quieted down and just stared at Mac's expression on his face. If there's only one thing that could make Mac severely mad, it's making fun of his DJ abilities.  
  
"OK..." DJ Atomika started, "let's continue on with the introductory session." Everyone groaned.  
  
"First let us each introduce ourselves," he suggested, "just in case we forgot anyone, or if you see someone new."  
  
So everyone introduced himself or herself. JP recognized everyone, except for the new people. He knew Tony already. He also knew that the muscular guy was named Nate. He found out that the annoying-looking kid was named Griff, and that he was only twelve years old. He found out that the new girl was named Allegra, and the stalker-looking guy was named Viggo.  
  
"Now let me remind you of all of the rules," DJ Atomika started reading off the many rules of the SSX circuit.  
  
JP spaced out after that. There's nothing worse than listening to the same old rules every single year. Even if this year everything was changed around. He could pick up everything as he went by. That's what everyone else was thinking as JP noticed them all lose interest and gaining it in something very boring. Zoe was off having staring contests with those across from her, and many others joined in. Others just placed their head down and relaxed. Even the new boarders were bored.  
  
"And finally, physical and verbal fighting is now tolerated," DJ Atomika stated.  
  
Everyone had somehow heard that last rule, and they all awoke with huge enthusiasm. The last season, Rahzel didn't tolerate this. He even threatened to rip up some contracts if certain people kept fighting with one another.  
  
"Are you serious?" Mac asked.  
  
"Finally, we can put people where they belong!" Moby yelled, glaring at Mac.  
  
"That will teach you for messing with me," Elise spoke as she glared at Psymon and Allegra.  
  
"Yes, I am serious. I thought that if you were stupid enough to make someone mad at you, you deserve a beating," DJ Atomika said. "Only if it is within reason, and not fatal or critical. You can't just attack someone for no good reason."  
  
Everyone started talking like crazy at once.  
  
"Quiet everyone for a second," DJ Atomika said, calming everyone down. "We'll start the circuit tomorrow. For the rest of the day, you can move to the rec room and chat among yourselves and get to know one another better. I have to go check out the cabins you will be staying in. When I return, we'll pick roommates and get all of your stuff into your cabins before we call it a day."  
  
"Don't we have any time for just one run?" Elise asked in her sexiest voice.  
  
"No, I'm sorry. It's really late out," he said as he pointed to his watch.  
  
"Oh my gosh!" Seeiah yelled. "It's almost nine o'clock at night!"  
  
"What!?!?!?" everyone yelled at once.  
  
"That introductory session took THAT long!?" Marisol asked.  
  
"I'm hungry!" Kaori yelled. Soon, everyone was feeling hungry.  
  
"I'll order you some pizza in the rec room. Everyone go and I'll see you later!" DJ Atomika said as he practically pushed all sixteen boarders into the rec room.  
  
Psymon, who was leading the pack, suddenly stopped to stretch and yawn, which caused everyone behind him to crash into him. All of the boarders fell into the room. The room itself was very similar to the other rooms, with wallpaper that looked and feeling like it was made of logs. There were a few comfortable-looking couches scattered all over the place.  
  
"Hey look! A TV!" Griff cried as half of the pack rolled away and get the best seats in front of the TV. JP shook his head as he pulled himself up to his feet.  
  
"Macky!!" Kaori yelled. "Look at that!" She was pointing to a foosball table.  
  
"Let's see if you van beat me Kaori!" Mac challenged as the two of them ran towards the foosball table.  
  
"Does anyone else want to play?" Kaori asked. Even though everyone knew she was just asking that to be nice since she would rather play against Mac alone, quite a few people wanted to.  
  
"I'll play!" Tony shouted as he ran.  
  
"Me too!" Allegra yelled, chasing after Tony.  
  
"Me three!" Eddie yelled as he pulled himself away from the TV, which was now playing a hilarious comedy on snowboarding.  
  
"Anyone else?" Kaori asked, knowing that they can't play fairly with an odd number of people.  
  
"Hey JP! Come on!" Tony yelled.  
  
"I'm coming," JP said after realizing that the show was too corny for his liking.  
  
"I'll play too!" Elise said.  
  
Zoe walked over to the table, "Hey, I'll play. I don't want to watch that boring show."  
  
So the eight decided to split into teams of four, with each person controlling only one row of people. Kaori, Mac, Eddie, and Elise formed one team while Zoe, Allegra, Tony, and JP formed the other team.  
  
"Hey it's like a couple against couple game," Zoe commented.  
  
"What!?" the other seven looked strangely at her.  
  
"What!?" the others watching TV shouted.  
  
"Never mind. Just a bad joke," Zoe said.  
  
The foosball game went on for a long time, not only because everyone was skilled at whatever position they were playing, but there were way too many distractions and comments that they had to redo a round whenever someone got lucky enough to score. The game ended abruptly when the table broke, leaving the score tied at 3-3.  
  
"Aw man," Mac yelled, "We were just about to beat you guys!"  
  
"Sure you were," Zoe said as she playfully shoved Mac away.  
  
"Hey, don't go injuring my star player!" Eddie joked.  
  
"Who's going to fix this?" Kaori asked. Everyone backed away and obtained interest somewhere else, leaving the broken foosball table behind.  
  
"Hey, the pizza is here!" Tony noticed. Sure enough, DJ Atomika must have stealthily delivered the pizza. Everyone started running towards the table once they all noticed the ten large pizza boxes sitting on the table.  
  
JP took several slices of pizza and a cup of Pepsi and sat on a single- seated couch, eating away. He noticed everyone else eating and doing off to do his or her own things. Allegra sat down on the floor, leaning against the wall as she took out her guitar, which she must have snuck out to obtain from the luggage room. She immediately started to play a rockish tune, creating a new atmosphere in the rec room. Tony walked up and sat next to Allegra, eating some pepperoni pizza as he watched her play.  
  
"Hey JP," JP turned his head to see Marisol approach him.  
  
"Hey," JP muttered as Marisol began to sit on the armrest to JP's personal little couch.  
  
"I just want you to know that I may have been too harsh on you last season," Marisol explained. "Right now, I'm completely over you, but you are a nice guy and I was wondering if we could remain friends."  
  
JP thought for a little bit. Last season, Marisol had a bone to pick with JP and she demonstrated that every chance the two got close together in a race. Now, two years ago, Marisol did seem like she wasn't mad at him any longer. "Sure," JP said with a smile on his face.  
  
"Great!" Marisol shouted with excitement. "So, what's up?"  
  
As the two began talking like old friends, Mac had walked over to Allegra and Tony and offered his hand for a handshake.  
  
"Hey, my name is Mac. You two are new here. Are you any good?" he asked as the two shook his hand one at a time. Allegra took this time to stop playing her guitar and start eating. Mac's eyes widened as he saw Allegra finish an entire good-sized slice of pizza in two bites.  
  
"I'd like to believe so," Tony said. "And you?"  
  
"I'm pretty good at freestyling, but I suck at races," Mac said. He noticed both Tony's and Allegra's eyebrows lifted as he said that. "But don't get me wrong. I'm still a threat in races."  
  
"I'm sure you are," Allegra said as she moved on to another slice.  
  
"I heard that are going to be tons more of freestyling events this season," Mac said excitedly. "I shouldn't have much to worry about."  
  
"Yeah, that's true," Tony said.  
  
"Hey, what can you play?" Mac asked Allegra once he noticed her guitar. She went off on a long list.  
  
"Any hip hop?" Mac interrupted.  
  
Allegra just shook her head.  
  
"Oh, I see..." Mac said.  
  
"Hey, can you two get me some more pizza while I tune up my guitar? Thanks!" she said before either could respond.  
  
Both Mac and Tony walked on over to the tables.  
  
"How much should we get her?" Tony asked.  
  
"Just bring a whole box," Mac said as he shoved a full pizza box into Tony's hand.  
  
"Okay..." Tony said.  
  
"Hey," Mac said as he nudged Tony with his elbow. "Are you going to go for it?" his eyes made mention towards Allegra's direction.  
  
"What?" Tony asked, shocked.  
  
"You know," Mac said with a grin as he walked away.  
  
Tony just shook her head and brought the pizza over to Allegra. The two talked and ate some more. It seemed that everyone was talking, and eating, and having a good time. JP and Marisol laughed at the one time Elise tripped at a start or a final race, which resulted he in getting last place. After they finished laughing, there was an awkward silence from the both of them...  
  
"Aaaah! You moron!!!" several people screamed at the top of their lungs as a few snowballs started flying around the room. Psymon had evidently found an escape outside, and he had collected snowballs to throw at a few select targets, namely Elise, Eddie, and Brodi.  
  
Marisol looked up in Seeiah's direction. "I got to go. Seeiah is calling me. I'll see you around!" she said as she walked on over to Seeiah, who seemed surprised to see Marisol.  
  
JP just shook his head, realizing what happened. He began to walk over to the table to get some more food but Zoe had jumped on top of him, literally sitting on his lap.  
  
"How you've been?" she said, smiling.  
  
"Good," JP said, extremely suspicious of her. She didn't appear to be drunk because she couldn't be since the only beverage in the room is Pepsi. Zoe was JP's major enemy last season; certainly she couldn't be up to any good.  
  
"You look real good this year," Zoe said, her eyes scanning the room.  
  
"Thanks. You look great yourself," JP replied, not knowing what he was doing.  
  
"Haha. I never expected you to say that," she laughed.  
  
"Do I look like the type that doesn't give compliments?" JP asked.  
  
"No..." Zoe began, but was distracted because Allegra had started to perform a slow song on her guitar.  
  
Zoe jumped off of JP, turned around, and took his hand, pulling him off of the chair, as she said, "Come on! Let's dance!"  
  
Zoe and JP danced off to the side of the room as Allegra played with Tony watching with awe. Some of the other boarders have sat down, still eating as they watched the rest of the boarders dodge and throw snowballs all over the place. The snowball fight got more and more intense when people started to realize that Psymon wasn't the only one with access to snow.  
  
Once Allegra had finished her song, she stood up yelling, "I can't play like this!", mentioning towards the indoor snowball fight. She packed away her guitar and walked off to put it away. Tony just shrugged at Zoe and JP who were both disappointed at the end of the song, and thus bringing and end to their dancing. The two shrugged and walked away, Zoe to talk to Moby, and JP to watch TV.  
  
Tony walked over to JP's single-couch and just relaxed there alone for a while. Allegra came back, noticing Tony's choice of spot change. She decided to sit down right on top of him.  
  
"Hey," he said as she blocked his line of sight.  
  
"Fine, you want to see this chaos?" she said as she shifted her body onto Tony's lap, throwing an arm around his neck. The two just sat there for a while.  
  
Mac was walking around, drinking Pepsi and talking to others when he noticed Tony and Allegra sitting in that chair together like that. When Allegra wasn't looking, Mac flashed Tony a thumbs-up sign, as Tony just shook his head with a small smile on his face.  
  
"Got you!!!" someone cried at the top of her lungs. Everyone's eyes moved over to Kaori, who was jumping excitedly in place motioning towards a huge pile of snowball remains on Psymon's face.  
  
"Oh, you're really going to get it now!" Psymon threatened as he flung another snowball in Kaori's direction. She screamed and ducked, and the snowball hit Allegra directly in the face.  
  
"Oh thanks a lot!" she yelled as she jumped of Tony to go get a napkin.  
  
"No problem!" Psymon laughed as ten snowballs were flung into his direction.  
  
"What's going on in here!?" called a voice from the entrance.  
  
Everyone in the room quieted down. DJ Atomika walked in with an angry expression on his face. To the boarder's surprise, all remains of the snowball fight had melted away, thanks to the heating system, leaving some people with wet looks.  
  
"Oh, nothing. We were just talking and then the Pepsi spilled by itself all over this gorgeous carpet," Elise explained calmly as she bent down to rub the carpet with a small smile on her face. Everyone knew DJ Atomika was referring to the loud cacophony of shouts and screams that occurred earlier, and none of the boarders wanted to start the circuit off by getting yelled at.  
  
"Oh I see," DJ Atomika muttered as a smile started to spread. "Well, I have just checked out the cabins in which you all will be staying in. We have seven cabins available for you all, two of them being extra large."  
  
The room filled with gasps of excitement. They all wanted the extra large cabins.  
  
"Now it's time to pick out roommates and cabins. I have already thought this out clearly so do not change the plan. The six girls will pair up in two's, and each will take one of the smaller cabins."  
  
A few of the girls appeared shocked that they don't get a chance at the larger cabins.  
  
"For the guys, there will have to be two groups of three. Each group will get an extra large cabin, while the remaining guys will pair up and take the remaining smaller cabins. So hurry up and decide your roommates so you guys can settle in and get to bed early for tomorrow's big race."  
  
The room erupted in extraordinary loud shouts as the boarders started trying to find partners.  
  
"Hey JP!" Tony yelled from one side of the room. "Want to be roommates?!"  
  
"Sure!" JP yelled back from the other side of the room. "Get someone else so we could get a big cabin!"  
  
"Who!?" Tony asked loudly. But JP's answer was smuggled by more screams and shouts from the other boarders.  
  
Seeiah and Marisol have always been close friends, so the two naturally decided to become roommates. Knowing that she might already have a bed reputation with both Allegra and Zoe, Elise decided to room with Kaori. This left Zoe and Allegra to be stuck with each other, but the two probably would have been roommates anyways. Tony and JP were fortunate enough to persuade Nate into joining their group of three to get a large cabin. Because of their small size, Mac and Griff had persuaded Eddie into becoming a group of three. This pairing left Psymon and Viggo to be roommates together as well as Brodi and Moby.  
  
"Now that we got you all paired up, these are the cabins you'll be staying at for the remainder of this SSX season," DJ Atomika said as he gave each group a cabin number, a map, and a key. "Please take all your luggage to your assigned cabin, and I'll see you all tomorrow!"  
  
JP, Tony, and Nate walked outside into the dark, snowy night, dragging their heavy belongs with them.  
  
"Hey Nate, could you carry my stuff for me?" Tony asked realizing that he had packed way too many things that he could carry.  
  
"What do I look like?" Nate asked jokingly.  
  
"A nice guy who will put his muscles to use carrying his friend's stuff?" Tony asked, hoping sweet talking would work.  
  
"Fine," Nate obliged as Tony practically threw his stuff at him.  
  
"What number cabin are we?" JP asked Tony, who now had the map to scout out the area.  
  
"Number seven," Tony replied.  
  
"Is that the cabin that is the farthest away?" Nate asked, a worried look on his face.  
  
"I'm pretty sure," JP joked, trying to bring humor to this dreadful walk.  
  
"I'm not going to be able to carry all this stuff all that way!" Nate complained, still dragging both Tony's and his own luggage.  
  
"Don't doubt yourself," Tony persuaded.  
  
"Too late!" Nate yelled as he jokingly pretended to drop all of Tony's stuff.  
  
"Hey, don't make me come back there!" Tony shot back, obviously a joke.  
  
"Should I take that as a threat coming from such a little guy like you?" Nate teased.  
  
"Let's focus more on finding this cabin, shall we?" JP said with a tone of annoyance in his voice.  
  
The three continued to walk around in silence, searching for cabin number 7. They passed on a few other cabins in the dark, but neither of them was cabin number 7. They looked and saw that Zoe and Allegra had found their cabin, and were enjoying a warn fireplace.  
  
"Are we there yet?" Nate asked annoyed, trying not to look at the warm cabin.  
  
"That's something I would like to know," Tony yawned.  
  
"Is that it?" JP asked pointing to a barely visible outline of a cabin.  
  
"I'll check," Tony said as he ran off towards the outline while JP and Nate continued to drag their belongings in that direction.  
  
"It better be it," JP muttered. "I can't carry this stuff any further."  
  
"At least you're only carrying your own stuff," Nate pointed out as he mentioned towards Tony's belongings.  
  
"That's what you get for being a nice guy," JP sighed.  
  
"It's the cabin!!!" Tony yelled, interrupting JP's and Nate's conversation.  
  
"Finally!" Nate yelled as he started to quicken his pace.  
  
"Hey Jape! Toss me the key!" Tony commanded.  
  
"Nice nickname," Nate murmured as JP threw the key to Tony.  
  
"Shut up!" JP yelled at Nate.  
  
The two boarders finally dragged everything into the cabin that Tony opened. They noticed that he started a fire in a conveniently placed fireplace near the center of the living room. All three boarders decided to explore the log cabin. The cabin contained only four rooms. The living room contained a few comfy chairs, the fireplace, and a table. There was also a small kitchen, complete with a refrigerator, freezer, stove, microwave, sink, and a cupboard filled with eating utensils and bowls. There was also a single large bedroom with three individual beds and a few drawers for the boarders to store stuff in. There was also a small bathroom, which contained all of the necessities a bathroom should have.  
  
"I call this bed!" Tony yelled as he jumped on the middle bed. Nate and JP took the remaining beds that were closer to him. Then the three took their luggage and brought them in to the bedroom so they could unpack them.  
  
Tony and Nate finished unpacking first and they lied down on their beds, leaving JP to finish unpacking on his own.  
  
"So, what's up with the new nickname?" JP asked, making conversation.  
  
"I'm too lazy to say your whole name," Tony responded.  
  
"But it's only two letters!" Nate exclaimed as he laughed.  
  
"Still, if I can shorten it, I will," Tony said with a grin.  
  
"OK then," JP said, learning to simply accept his new nickname.  
  
"So, what do you think of this circuit?" Nate asked Tony, trying to make some more conversation.  
  
"It sounds like fun, although very challenging," Tony said. "I have no idea what the tracks are so I don't know for sure what to expect."  
  
"There's a lot more boarders than I expected there to be," Nate said, looking up at the ceiling of the cabin.  
  
"Yeah, sixteen people is crazy. It's going to be a struggle to get a medal at any event," Tony said with a very disappointed tone.  
  
"Don't worry about it," JP said, still rummaging through a duffel bag. "There's not going to be only one attempt at each event. There's probably going to be more medals and such. That's how it was in the past two seasons. Some people got multiple medals from the same event."  
  
"That's nice to know," Tony muttered.  
  
"So Tony, what do you think of the boarders?" Nate asked out loud.  
  
"Who in particular?" Tony asked back.  
  
"The girls?" he asked teasingly as he turned his head over to Tony.  
  
"You really want to know what I think?" Tony asked with a bored expression.  
  
"I already know you have your eyes set on Allegra," Nate pointed out as he laughed.  
  
"What?!?" Tony yelled as he threw a pillow at Nate. JP just laughed and shook his head.  
  
"Don't play dumb Tony. We all know," JP remarked.  
  
"Then don't bring it up!!" Tony yelled back.  
  
"Fine, so what do you think of the other five girls?" Nate asked, throwing the pillow back at Tony.  
  
"You really want to know?" Tony asked, hating to be put on the spotlight.  
  
"Sure," Nate and JP said together, trying to hide their smiles.  
  
"OK, first there is Zoe. She's pretty hot, with her red hair and all. She looks like the type of girl you can always have a fun time with," Tony explained, looking at the ceiling to avoid Nate's and JP's stares.  
  
"Yeah, but she's seems hard to get," Nate commented, remembering Zoe at the rec room.  
  
"And she has a thing for Moby," JP added, destroying any thoughts Tony or Nate might have had.  
  
"Then there's Kaori. She's cute and seems pretty nice. But she speaks Japanese, right?" Tony continued.  
  
"Yeah, but she's been working on her English," JP responded thoughtfully.  
  
"How old is she? She seems so young," Nate asked out of curiosity.  
  
"Nineteen, but she and Mac always flirt so she's probably already taken," JP commented.  
  
"Then there's Seeiah. She seems nice, and her hair looks great," Tony started.  
  
"She was bald last circuit," JP responded quickly.  
  
"Yeah I heard. It doesn't matter because beauty comes from the heart, not the skin," Tony said quietly.  
  
"So philosophical..." Nate laughed loudly.  
  
"But she seems like a loud person. Then there's Elise, who I wouldn't want to be with," Tony continued on.  
  
"Why? She's pretty hot," Nate said, now looking up at the ceiling again.  
  
"She seems conceited, and fake," Tony commented without a care for what Nate thinks.  
  
"You don't even know her," Nate shot back.  
  
"Still..." Tony started.  
  
"She's sort of stuck-up," JP commented, trying to end the debate before it gets worse.  
  
"Anyways, then last is Marisol. She's pretty, but she has a thick accent. But she seems nice," Tony explained.  
  
"She has a thing for JP," Nate muttered. JP just became quiet.  
  
"What's wrong? Don't like love?" Tony joked at JP.  
  
"No..." JP said as he debated in his mind whether or not to tell them the truth between him and JP.  
  
"So, what's up then?" Tony asked.  
  
"Yeah, you were so informative about the others, but now you're quiet," Nate noticed and pointed out loud.  
  
"Well.. uh.. Marisol and I went out, but broke up," JP said quietly.  
  
"Don't be ashamed of that," Tony said, acting philosophical again.  
  
"Oh well. I'm tired, I'm going to sleep," Nate announced to everyone.  
  
"Yeah, I'm tired too. Are you done unpacking Jape?" Tony asked.  
  
"Why?" JP asked back.  
  
"So we can shut off the lights and stuff," Tony commented.  
  
"Yeah, I'm done," JP responded as he finished zipping up a duffel bag and jumped onto his bed.  
  
"OK then," Tony said as he jumped off the bed to turn off the fireplace and the lights.  
  
"Good night everyone," Tony said, but he couldn't be heard over Nate's snores.  
  
A/N: More action coming up in the next chapter. Please read and review!!! This story really does take a lot of time to write, and I would appreciate it if you would tell me how I should change it. 


	3. Gotta Have Enemies

Author's Note: Ah, didn't think I'd make a Ch.3, did you? Well, writing this fan fic takes about 2-3 weeks per chapter, and I haven't had the time to sit down and write in a while. This might be my last chapter for quite some time because school is starting up soon. The infamous junior year will definitely take up a lot of my time and energy, simply to get good grades in some really hard classes and also to take some really hard tests, such as the ACT, SAT, etc. So, don't be expecting many chapters after this one. I will try writing more in any free time I may have, if the response is high enough. Frankly, it hasn't been. Anyways, enjoy this chapter!!!

Chapter 3: Gotta Have Enemies

Nate woke up at seven o'clock in the morning. Being a countryman, he is used to waking up early, even though he usually wakes up at five. He gave one final turn on his bed before he opened his eyes and sat up, taking in everything that has happened to him from the night before. He turned his head to left to see if his two roommates were still asleep. Surprisingly enough, he saw two empty beds.

Yawning, Nate got up from his bed and executed a lazy attempt to make the bed, which failed. He looked to the direction of the bathroom, and saw the door closed with sounds of a shower coming from behind. Apparently, one of the two roommates is in the bathroom getting ready, while the other must have gotten ready a bit earlier. Nate sighed and proceeded to pick out his clothes while he waited for the only bathroom in the cabin to be free.

Knock! Knock! Two large knocks on the cabin door completely scared off any sleep that remained off Nate's face. Lazily, Nate walked over to the door, wearing nothing but the snowpants he wore since yesterday, and opened it, showing Zoe, completely dressed in a white tank top, a black jacket, and dark baggy snowpants.

"Hey Nate!" Zoe exclaimed once she caught site of Nate, trying hard not to check him out.

"G'morning," Nate yawned. "Up early?"

"Yeah, they just opened all of the tracks on Peak 1!" she informed. "I want to take a few practice runs before the qualifying heats begin."

"Oh, that's a good idea," Nate nodded, a bit angry at the fact that he woke later than usual on such a crucial day.

"Hey, is JP there?" Zoe asked awkwardly.

"I'm not sure. Someone is in the bathroom, and I have no idea where the other is," Nate explained, catching site of a little look of disappointment on Zoe's face.

"Well, I have to go. When whoever is done in the bathroom, tell him to meet me up in Snow Jam. I want to get a few more practice races before the real thin," Zoe said as she started to walk away waving, "See you later Nate!"

"Later," Nate mumbled as he closed the door to the lodge. It felt like a brisk morning outside, so he decided that he would wear a vest over his T-shirt before he went out. Now all he has to do is take a quick shower and eat a quick breakfast, providing how early he can get in the bathroom.

Nate noticed that the shower has turned off during his conversation with Zoe. About fifteen minutes later, Tony popped out, wearing a gray muscle shirt over a blue T-shirt and blue and gray snowpants. His hair was spiked, and it looked recently dyed.

"Good morning Nate!" Tony exclaimed as he threw his dirty clothes and tower into a laundry bin. "Sorry I took so long. I had to dye my hair again."

"No problem," Nate nodded, a little angrily. "Is this going to be a daily thing?"

"Nope," Tony muttered as he went over to his backpack and started rummaging through it. "It's just that I haven't dyed it in a while, and I couldn't dye it any earlier otherwise it'd messed up my hair."

"Ah," Nate faked interest.

"Should last for a month or so, so there's no big problem," Tony clarified.

"Cool," Nate seemed relieved. "Hey, Zoe came over and she wants you to meet her at a Snow Jam venue for a practice race."

"Right now?" Tony asked in disbelief.

"She didn't say," Nate replied.

"OK, I'll meet her after I eat. Go to the cafeteria at the Lodge. JP said they have really good bacon over there!" Tony said as he took out his gloves, shades, shoes, and his blue and gray snowboard.

"Thanks for sharing," Nate laughed as he walked on over to the bathroom.

"No problem!" Tony smiled. "I'll see you at the practices!" And with that, Tony left the cabin leaving the bathroom all to Nate.

"Yeah!" Mac screamed, landing a Triple Misty off the final jump in Snow Jam.

"Nice job!" Kaori commented, clapping her hands while sitting in the soft, white snow. Somehow, she had agreed to watch Mac show off, even though she would rather practice.

"No one is going to pull out as many good tricks as I can, that's for sure!" Mac, still full of excitement, shouted.

"You do know that this is a racing venue," Kaori pointed out, stifling a laugh.

"Well, I would LOVE to go to Crow's Nest and practice my tricks over there, but there's a certain someone already practicing there. A certain someone named Psymon!" Mac attempted to scare Kaori on the last bit. She jumped in surprise.

"Oh, stop that," Kaori said, lying down on the snow to start making a snow angel. She is scared of Psymon, and is angered when others try to tease her about it. She doesn't get too angry with Mac though.

"Watch OUT!" a female voice shouted further up from the jump. Both Mac and Kaori turned their heads to see what the commotion was about, and they saw two boarders jumping that final jump, and coming their way. The red haired boarder swerved around in a quick motion to avoid a collision. Her companion, a blonde boarder wearing black and white, wasn't so lucky and collided straight into Mac.

"Could you look and see where you're going?!?!" Mac yelled as he pulled himself back to his feet. He was just knocked down, nothing broken or anything.

"I could," JP sneered coldly, picking up his snowboard, which had gone flying during the crash.

"Hey, I gave you a warning Mac!" Zoe laughed, taking her goggles off. "You should have moved out of the way!"

"Still..." Mac began.

"Zoe! JP! Were you racing?" Kaori asked, interrupting one of Mac's rampages.

"Yeah," JP answered simply.

"Aww, JP you're no fun!" Zoe shook her head.

"What?" JP asked with concern in his voice.

"You guys having another race?" Mac asked as he finished adjusting his beanie and goggles.

"Sure, why not," Zoe answered for the both of them.

"I'll race with you!!" Kaori shouted as she picked up her blinding neon-pink board, and raced towards the gondola at full speed.

"What's got into her?" JP remarked, noticing Kaori has acted more energetic than she usually is.

"She has to go do something now that her precious "alone with Mac" time is over," Zoe said with a wink.

"What's that supposed to mean?!?!" Mac blushed uncontrollably.

Zoe just laughed, turned around, and ran towards the gondola, with JP and a red-faced Mac trailing behind her.

On the other end of the mountain, Allegra stood at the starting gates of Snow Jam, facing the big downhill slope, checking out the track from above as she waited. Hearing the crunching of snow behind her, and a snowboard clattering to the floor, she turned around and yelled, "It took you long enough!"

"Sorry, I was hungry!" Tony shot back, adjusting his gear.

"Racing on a full stomach isn't good for you!" Allegra scolded.

"Neither is racing on an empty stomach," Tony pointed out. "Besides, it's not like the qualifying heats are starting any time soon."

"They start at ten-thirty. And it's past eight now!" Allegra continued. "You're going to get cramps and lose."

"I don't recall asking you to become my mother," Tony muttered, now finished gearing up.

Suddenly, Kaori leaped from the gondola as it approached the starting area and ran towards Allegra and Tony.

"Hi Tony! Hi Allegra!" she exclaimed as she struggled to catch her breath.

"Had too much sugar?" Allegra joked, covering her mouth with a hand so Kaori couldn't see her laughing.

"Good morning," Tony said back, doing his best to divert Kaori's attention from the laughing Allegra.

"Do you, want to, race with us?" Kaori said in between breathes.

Tony looked over to Allegra, who quickly answered, "Why not?"

"Who is 'us'"? Tony asked. Suddenly, the next gondola approached and Mac, Zoe, and JP emerged from it, looking shocked to find Kaori near collapse.

"Hey, do you want to race?" Mac asked, truly wanted to see how well he can match up with five of the other boarders.

"Yeah we will," Allegra answered with a tone of annoyance in her voice. "Let's hurry up before the bitch arrives," she muttered and she shook her head towards the lodge, where Elise was just stepping out to practice.

All six boarders immediately approached a gate, then took off into the venue that will decide who gets the first medals of the third SSX circuit.

At precisely ten-thirty, DJ Atomika arrived at the starting gates, carrying a rather heavy backpack. The boarders all noticed this when he called them over for the run down of the rules for this event.

"What's in the bag, bro?" Mac asked as he approached DJ Atomika.

"The hell..." Moby broke off once he caught site of the glances given by Zoe and DJ Atomika.

"I'll tell you later. Is everyone here?" DJ Atomika asked, looking around and counting bodies. Sure enough, all sixteen boarders were there, but they have impatiently scattered about, all with stressful looks on their faces.

"What is this? Grade school?" Psymon asked, clearly annoyed at waiting.

"Hey!" Griff started.

"Everyone shut up and let the guy talk!" Seeiah scolded, glaring at everyone in general.

"Thank you Seeiah," DJ Atomika thanked as Seeiah smiled. "The first heat is the qualifying run. All of you will race down the track at different times. Your goal is to get a good quick time to the finish. After all sixteen of you got your times, we will compare the times. The fastest twelve times will move on to the semifinals. There, the twelve boarders will be split in two groups of six, and will race. The top 3 from each group will move on to the finals, where one more race will be held to determine who wins which medal. Any questions?"

"How many runs do we get to qualify?" Elise asked coolly.

"One, but I'm sure everyone has practiced on this track long enough," DJ Atomika smiled grimly. "Any others?"

No one asked any questions, but just exchanged bored, impatient glances with one another.

"Well, that was a surprise," DJ Atomika laughed. "Well, in this backpack I have a PDA for each of you." Several eyebrows rose at this statement. "You can use these to store personal best times and scores, communicate with one another via text messaging, and check out the schedule for future events."

Everyone went up and took their PDA accordingly, some of them, mainly Kaori, started messing around with theirs.

"So, who gets to qualify first?" Nate asked, shoving his PDA in his pocket.

"Let's see," DJ Atomika pulled out a clipboard and examined it. "Moby and Psymon!"

The two boarders groaned, picked up their boards, and approached their desire starting gates. In an instant, the two were off.

"We're going two at a time?" Elise asked.

"Yeah, since the time is the only thing that matters, we took extra precautions to make sure everyone gets a chance to ride their best, meaning without interference with other boarders," DJ Atomika answered.

"Who goes next"? Viggo asked.

"Look at your PDA!" DJ Atomika shouted. Everyone checked and, sure enough, there was a schedule detailing which two will ride together, and in what order.

"These things are pretty cool!" Griff exclaimed.

"Kaori!! Stop sending me messages!" Eddie yelled.

"Me too!" Elise yelled.

"Seriously, I have seven already, all from Kaori!" Zoe noted.

"Sorry, I guess I got carried away," Kaori smiled with her traditional Japanese cute smile that make everyone forgive her in an instant.

"Marisol, Eddie, you two are up!" DJ Atomika pointed out. Marisol stood up, and picked up her long Alpine board, and walked on over to the starting gate where she encountered Elise.

"Still using a board that's three sizes too big for you, eh?" Elise sneered.

"Just because you can't handle pure speed, doesn't mean you could try and put down others," Marisol responded calmly as she shoved Elise out of her way, and continued on.

Everyone grew nervous as they anxiously waited for their turn to ride. Viggo, getting ready to go next, picked up his Alpine board, and nearly knocked everyone down with it as he tried to navigate it through the crowd to the gates.

"Hey! Watch it!" Mac shouted as he ducked to avoid the board.

"Come this close to hitting me again, and you will regret it!" Elise threatened.

"I'm sorry!" Viggo called.

"Pfft, he's going to get last," Zoe commented once Viggo and Seeiah took off.

"Three apliners?" Griff noted as he started to get prepared. "Won't that be first, second, and third right there?"

"Just because they have a faster board, doesn't mean they'll have a faster time," JP said, eyes glaring at Brodi.

"Yeah, Marisol just plain out sucks," Elise laughed.

"Why don't you leave her alone!?" Allegra yelled, growing more and more impatient.

"Excuse me?" Elise sneered. "Did someone with a squeaky baby voice say something?"

"WHAT!?!?" Allegra screamed. But a potential catfight was diverted because Elise was next to ride.

"I'll get back at her, I swear," Allegra promised.

"Ah, I just love this SSX circuit," Zoe commented, with a hilarious expression of awe on her face.

"Is everyone always like this?" Tony asked JP.

"Uh, no, I think this is the worst one yet," JP said after thinking for a while.

"You said it!" Mac exclaimed, jumping up to get ready.

Eventually, all sixteen boarders finally finished their qualifying runs. Once at the bottom, everyone looked up at a gigantic scoreboard that showed everyone's time, and what rank he or she was. It read:

1. Brodi 2:32.87

2. Zoe 2:35.23

3. Psymon 2:39.85

4. Marisol 2:39.89

5. JP 2:43.57

6. Elise 2:44.02

7. Mac 2:45.43

8. Tony 2:45.93

9. Nate 2:45.98

10. Kaori 2:47.00

11. Allegra 2:47.49

12. Eddie 2:54.03

13. Seeiah 2:54.78

14. Moby 2:54.88

15. Griff 3:01.18

16. Viggo 4:29.32

"I'm sorry to say this but Seeiah, Moby, Griff, and Viggo, the four of you are no longer in this race," DJ Atomika broke the bad news to those four, Seeiah being the most disappointed of the 4. "But for the rest of you, the semifinals will start at two. I'll see you there."

Elise bent over and picked up her board from the safe confides of her cabin. Kaori had littered the place with a whole bunch of stuffed animals and bright, colorful objects. Elise had just finished her lunch, and after conversing with some of the other boarders, it was time for the semifinals. Elise had gone back to her cabin to pick up her board, sunglasses, and gloves.

Leaving the cabin and locking it behind her, Elise wearily started walking over to the gondola that will take her up to the starting gates. In this race, she will have to deal with Marisol and Allegra, both of which are her biggest enemies to deal with. She will also be racing alongside Tony, who is starting to develop a hatred for her, Nate, who is starting to become her best ally, and Psymon, who just likes messing around with her. Things weren't looking too good for her, and she realized that she would have to pull way ahead of the five if she were to win unscathed.

Arriving at the starting gates via the gondola, she noticed that almost everyone else were already there. Allegra and Tony were talking to one another, and Elise could have sworn she heard Allegra muttering, "bitch," as she walked past. Nate and Marisol were gearing up by themselves, Marisol with her back facing Elise in a gesture that implied that she is ignoring her. Psymon was nowhere to be seen.

"OK racers, approach the staring gates!" DJ Atomika announced from a tine little announcer booth at the top of the track. As soon as Elise picked the gate on the left end, she noticed that there were quiet a few people in the stands on either side of the starting gates. She also noticed the suspended television sets that were providing high-quality pictures of the track.

Marisol ended up taking the gate right next to Elise, followed by Allegra, Tony, Nate, and then an empty gate where Psymon should be.

"Where's Psymon?" DJ Atomika asked as son as he noticed that he was missing.

"I'm right here!" Psymon yelled, running from the gondola.

"What took you so long?" Allegra asked the question that was on everyone's mind.

"Some moron broke the gondolas!" Psymon exclaimed.

"What!?!?!" DJ Atomika yelled. "Those gondolas were brand new!! How could they break after one day!?!?"

"Was that moron you?" Nate asked Psymon with a smirk on his face.

"Oh, you shut your mouth, country-boy!" Psymon snapped back, as he took up the final starting gate on his end.

"I don't see how such a puny guy like you could make me," Nate shot back.

Elise, ignoring the rest of the two's argument, took this opportunity to mess with Marisol.

"Think you could make it to the bottom? It looks you didn't work on your chicken legs since the last season," Elise commented coldly.

"Shut it, Elise," Marisol replied coolly. "You're just jealous of my good, natural looks, unlike you, who had to get surgery just to whore yourself into a spot on this season."

"What did you say!?!?" Elise shouted through gritted teeth. But Marisol did not have the chance to respond because the race was about to start."

"3!" DJ Atomika started a countdown to the start, as the six boarders quieted down and started rocking back and forth in their gates, focusing more on getting a top three placing.

"2!... 1!... Go!!" he yelled as the gates were opened and all six boarders shot out like missiles into the track.

Right from the start, Elise had gotten some ground with an impressive shot out of the gates. She turned her head and saw Tony and Allegra not too far off, with Marisol bringing up the rear. Nate and Psymon, still infuriated with one another, tried their best to knock the other down, but it resulted in both of them falling, leaving the two in last place.

Elise bent her knees, and prepared for the upcoming jump. Executing a perfect Double Backflip, she was positive she would have a huge lead over the others. But as soon as she was shouting about her successful landing, Allegra dropped in on her from above, knocking the two of them to the ground.

"What the...?" Elise started as she pulled herself up.

"Watch where you're going, bitch!" Allegra shouted as she recovered much faster, and began her descent down.

"You're not going anywhere," Elise muttered to herself as she crouched, driven by the fact that she needs to pick up her speed to knock her down. Elise got little in air in the next few jumps, and after a sharp turn to the right, Elise was neck-to-neck with Allegra.

"Leave me alone!!" Allegra shouted as she threw a punch in Elise's direction. Elise straightened out, dodging the fist with ease, and threw out her own fist. Aimed straight at Allegra's shoulder, Elise's punch was strong enough to knock Allegra right off of her feet.

"Take that!!" Elise shouted with her head facing behind her, looking at Allegra roll around to try and get back on her board. She turned her back to start concentrating on the race, but only to find out she turned her into a black and pink gloved fist, that could only be Marisol. Elise couldn't help falling, but she turned her feet sideways, thus enabling her board to collide with Marisol as she flew by, tripping over in the opposite direction.

Elise got back up, rubbed her gloved hand on her jaw, and then set off, not knowing or caring what position she was in. She just wanted to get rid of Allegra and Marisol. She crouched and kept pushing herself forwards. The course shifted over to the left, then to the right before reaching a huge cliff. Elise saw the cliff, and jumped, performing her signature trick, the LaLaLa Lock Step. As she twirled in the area, she looked around, grasping a scope of her surroundings. She noticed three people preparing to land below her, and two boarders just starting their jumps.

As Elise landed, she heard Psymon cursing behind her. She looked back and noticed he had landed on his face, and was struggling to get back on his feet. Elise smiled, she's now third.

Elise continued to hold on to her position, taking each turn smoothly as it approached. Soon enough, she saw two shapes in front of her, which had to be Nate and Tony. Her hopes on getting a better position were dashed as upon entering the next turn, she heard a familiar, annoying voice to her left.

"Miss me, stupid head?" Allegra smirked, as she took the corner hard.

"Did you miss eating snow?" Elise replied coldly, turning sharply to try and keep up.

"No, not really," Allegra laughed, throwing a punch at Elise. The two tried their best to knock the other one down, throwing and dodging punches. Elise finally got lucky and aimed a punch at her side as she was throwing one, and Allegra fell over.

"Take that you little..." Elise started to cheer until she was interrupted by a shove from her right, knocking her completely off balance.

"You snooze, you lose..." Marisol's voice trailed off as she shot by like a bullet.

"Darn it!" Elise muttered to herself, popping up to reclaim her third place spot. Elise pushed herself to the max to catch up. The course started to widen out, telling her that the finish line was not too far away.

Rounding the next turn, Elise saw Marisol almost directly in front of her. Crouching even harder to go faster, she pursued after Marisol, the finish line in her sites. She closed her eyes. Only a few more yards to go... She opened them to see Marisol right next to her. She grinned, and threw a punch, landing at Marisol's shoulder, knocking her down. But Marisol had learned from earlier in the race. She shifted her legs as she fell, tripping Elise with her board in the process. This trip was so fast, Allegra, trailing behind, couldn't avoid it and she tripped over Marisol's board as well.

The three pulled themselves to their feet as soon as possible, trying desperately to get a head and cross the finish line that was only a couple of yards away. The three crouched, pushing their speed to the max, not bothering to try and knock down the one next to them. They pushed themselves, the finish line getting closer and closer by the nanosecond. And then finally, Elise pulled slightly ahead of the mess and crossed the finish line!!!

"And Elise, finishes at third!" DJ Atomika's announcement filled the stands. The few people in the stands started cheering loudly.

Elise had never felt this excitement before. Not only did she qualify for a chance at a medal, but she had also single-handedly outraced her two main rivals in this circuit!

"Hey Elise!" Allegra shouted, walking on up to Elise, facing her one-on-one. "Don't think this is over!!" Allegra stormed off, whispering something to Tony, who had finished second, right after Nate.

Marisol walked over. "I'd rather lose with honor, than win by playing dirty," she said as she walked past Elise. Elise didn't care. Those two weren't going to present her a problem any longer!!!

As she was waving at her fans, she felt someone tap her on the back. She turned around, seeing an angry-looking Tony with his arms crossed in front of him.

"That wasn't nice," Tony commented, shaking his head.

"Oh, and I'm supposed to care?" Elise asked coldly, wondering what Tony is trying to get at.

"Just to let you know, I'm not going to put up with that in the finals," Tony said as he walked away.

"Why is everyone out to get me, just because I'm so good?" Elise thought out loud, before she picked up her board, and headed off to her cabin to rest.

In the other semi-final heat, Mac, Kaori, Zoe, Brodi, JP, and Eddie went head to head against one another for the remaining three spots in the finals. JP, holding a grudge against Brodi since the last season, made sure Brodi didn't get a top three spot, even at the risk of losing a spot himself. Kaori finished first, with Zoe and Mac right behind her, obtaining second and third. The finals, consisting of Nate, Tony, Elise, Kaori, Zoe, and Mac, will take place at six in front of a full audience.

Standing at the starting gates, Kaori couldn't help but look around, taking in all this excitement she had missed since the last circuit. It was almost six o'clock and the sun was setting, leaving a blinding orange glow on the snow. The stands were packed, filled with many different colorful coats that belong to various people. They were shouting and yelling, whether it may be words of encouragement towards the six finalists, or complaints of how long it's taking for the race to start. Kaori didn't care. She couldn't understand them either; their voices were lost in the voices of others, and vise versa.

"Do you think we have any chance?" Nate asked Tony, both of them were ready for the race, although very nervous.

"What makes you think we don't?" Tony responded, pulling his shades down to block out the sun from his eyes.

"Us two newbies are up against four veterans!" Nate pointed out, referring to Kaori, Mac, Elise, and Zoe, all four of which had been on the previous SSX circuits.

"We got this far, and we already outraced a few veterans," Tony thought out loud. "I think we have a pretty good chance. Everyone will underestimate us."

"I hope you're right," Nate agreed silently.

Zoe approached the two. "Good luck!!"

"When are we going to start!?!?" Mac complained, growing more and more impatience by the second.

"Oh calm down," Elise smiled. "You'll get you chance to lose soon enough."

"Elise, over at Italy we like to exchange words of wisdom before we do anything like this," Tony started, staring angrily at Elise. "So I have four words of wisdom for you: 'Shut the hell up!'"

Elise just gave him a strange look, and then made a whipping motion, complete with the sound. Everyone, other than Kaori and Tony, laughed hysterically.

"What!? I don't get it!" Kaori cried, almost in tears.

"It means..." Nate started.

"Riders, take your positions!!!" DJ Atomika announced, interrupting everyone's thoughts and moods.

"Finally!" Mac exclaimed.

The six boarders approached the actual gates. Elise took the first one on the left, then Kaori, Mac, Tony, Nate, and finally Zoe. As Tony was making his final preparations, he couldn't help but feel good. He has a good chance to get a medal. He is racing against friends, except for Elise. And everyone isn't too fond of Elise except for Kaori and Nate.

"3!" DJ Atomika started the countdown. Everyone started rocking back in forth in their gates, hoping for an extra boost if speed as the gates release.

"2!... 1!... Go!!" DJ Atomika yelled, before his voice was drowned out by the cries and yells from the audience.

The six boarders all got a good, clean start, leading up to the first pair of jumps. Everyone tried not to get as much air, but good enough air to throw in a couple of jaw-dropping tricks. Zoe and Elise got out to an early lead, but the other four were right behind them, with Nate slowly but sure getting a lead over the other three. The turn to the right came up, and you know what they say about turns: races are won and lost through turns.

"Hey Elise!" Tony yelled, cutting through the corner very sharply, passing Elise up on her left. "In real life, slow and steady will not win the race!"

"And that's coming from you? Oh please!" Elise groaned, throwing her fist out. However, Tony got the edge of the next turn, and sped off, leaving Elise's fit to almost collide with Kaori.

"Aai!!!" Kaori screamed as she try to avoid the punch, but ended up losing her balance, and tripped, colliding directly into Nate.

"Sorry Kaori!" Elise called behind her.

"Two down, only you to go," Elise heard Zoe taunting her from her right.

Tony barely had the lead now. Basking in the excitement of the chaos going behind him, he wasn't paying attention to any of the riders next to him. Finally, BAM!!! Mac's fist collided with Tony's side, sending him face first into the snow.

"You have to move to win," Elise taunted as she and Zoe passed him up, chasing after Mac for first.

Tony shook his fist at Elise, pulled himself back up, and started concentrating on the race. "That must have been an accident. Mac wouldn't do something like that to his friend," he muttered to himself, trying his best to catch up and restrain from letting Nate and Kaori pass him up.

The positions haven't changed very much afterwards until the track led over the cliff and into the forest. Mac now had a pretty good lead over everyone else, but Zoe had passed Elise up and was doing a great job to catch up. Tony, Kaori, and Nate were struggling behind them.

As the boarders arrived at the forest, they dispersed, each taking their own route through the complications the forest offered. Mac and Elise liked to stick to the main path, but the rest risked the positions even more by using newly discovered shortcuts.

"Surprise!!" Zoe called as she landed from a jump right in front of Mac.

"Go away! This one is mine!" Mac yelled, crouching even harder to go slightly faster than Zoe.

"You asked for it!" Zoe yelled back.

Suddenly, a huge pile of sticks from the trees blasted out in front of them. The two did their best to avoid them, but they noticed two boarders were not right in front of them.

"Stop following me, Kaori!" Tony shouted. Kaori just smiled and laughed, she had found out Tony's awesome shortcut.

The two new leaders were boarding at their top speeds, cutting each turn very sharply. However, Zoe and Mac had caught on, and the two were gaining on them. The finish line was getting close, and both Zoe and Mac knew it.

Around the next turn, Kaori accidentally got a little too close to Tony, and their boards collided, making the two of them lose valuable speed. Once they were back to the speeds they were going, Mac and Zoe were literally half a foot behind them. The crowd cheered louder and louder as the finish line got closer and closer.

Mac suddenly got a burst of speed. Using this speed, Mac was able to catch up right there next to Tony. Without warning, Mac fired a punch at Tony. However, Tony was sort of anticipating this and dodged it.

"What the hell...!" he started, but another one of Mac's punches caught him in the face, leaving him unbalanced and falling, yet again, face first into the snow.

"You asshole!" Tony shouted after him. However, as he was pulling himself up and shaking his head, Elise just so happened to be riding by, and she shoved him back down as she passed by.

"Stay down!" she shouted.

An angry Tony crossed the finish line fifth, with Mac winning Gold, Zoe Silver, and Kaori winning Bronze. Elise got fourth, and Nate got sixth, never able to recover from the flying Kaori incident.

After everyone had received their medals and the crowd had started to file out, Tony walked over to Mac, who was waving at the crowd, and shoved him.

"What the hell was that!?" Tony yelled.

"What was what?" Mac sneered back.

"You think you can just push and cheat your way to first!?!?" Tony shouted back. All of these shouts and yells were attracting the attention of the other boarders.

"What the hell are you trying to say!? That I don't deserve this?" Mac responded, his temper rising uncontrollably.

"Damn right!" Tony answered.

But before the two could argue some more, Mac threw out a punch at Tony. Retaliating, Tony punched back, and before either knew it, they started fighting like crazy, throwing punches everywhere with constant swearing from both. The other boarders saw this and immediately ran to break the two apart. It proved to be hard because the two teens were completely enraged with one another. However, Nate was able to pry the two apart and hold Tony back.

"Stop!! What's wrong with you?!" Nate yelled, struggling to keep Tony from attacking Mac, who was know being held back by Eddie and Viggo.

"Leave me alone!" Tony yelled, struggling to break free from Nate's strong grip. "I have to teach this asshole a lesson!"

Eventually, the two were dragged over to their own cabins where they cooled down. Some of the boarders, such as Elise, were disappointed because they actually wanted to see a fight.

"Geez, where did that come from?" Nate asked Tony when they were at the cabin and Tony had calmed down.

"I don't know. I guess I got pissed off when he knocked me down. You know, I had the perfect opportunity to mess him up, but I didn't because I thought we were friends," Tony tried to explained as he laid down on his bed.

"Don't worry," JP explained with a sinister smile. "You'd get many more chances to beat him."

"I hope so," Tony said before falling asleep out of pure exhaustion.


End file.
